The results of the Pisa tests, which the signatories say are "widely known to be imperfect" because they focus narrowly on the economic goals of education, are anxiously awaited in the 66 countries that take part.

When their children's results fall down the league tables, governments often make sweeping changes in how schools are run and what they teach. The 1,300-word letter describes these as "short-term fixes" designed to boost league table positions, and argues that "enduring changes ... take decades". It says the next round of tests in 2015 should be scrapped.

The letter is published on the Guardian website and on globalpolicyjournal.com, an online hub for top academics and teachers.

"Education policy across the world is being driven by the single aim of pushing up national performance levels on Pisa," said one signatory, Stephen Ball, professor at London University's Institute of Education. "It's having a tremendously distorting effect, right down to the level of classroom teaching."

Michael Gove, the education secretary, has repeatedly used English children's poor performance in Pisa – the latest scores showed them 26th in maths, 23rd in reading and 21st in science – as justification for introducing more traditional exams and more academies and free schools. His junior minister, Liz Truss, went to Shanghai in China, which topped the league tables in all subjects, to discover the secrets of its success.

The letter says the OECD is co-operating "with multi-national for-profit companies which stand to gain financially from any deficits – real or perceived – unearthed by Pisa". Pearson, owner of the Financial Times and Penguin Books and the world's biggest textbook publisher, is setting the framework for the 2015 tests.

Heinz-Dieter Meyer, professor of education policy at the State University of New York and one of the letter's organisers, says Andreas Schleicher, who runs the OECD tests, gives public endorsement to controversial policies such as Common Core, an attempt to introduce a national curriculum in the US.

Schleicher told the Guardian: "All we said was that Common Core standards are in line with what they have in high-performing countries." He also said Pearson was just one of numerous contractors, including universities and other public bodies, which carry out aspects of Pisa's work. Far from narrowing education, he argued, Pisa encouraged countries to look at new ideas from around the world.

Meyer warned that the OECD is expanding its testing into areas such as teacher training and higher education and "seems hell-bent on assessing every square inch of the educational globe".